Consumed By You Read online

  So it had made sense to relocate her training business here and start building it locally. There was no other place where she wanted to put down roots.

  As she neared the park, her dog began to pick up the pace, ready to chase balls. Such a simple but satisfying activity, and that’s what made it rewarding for the both of them. Cara unhooked Violet from her leather leash and tossed her the ball.

  Soon, the rote action and the dog’s eager response settled her overactive mind, veering it away from that too-sexy fireman for a moment. At some point, she’d have to woman up and let him know why she’d walked off. But since he hadn’t chased her down, or even called, she was in no rush to clear the air.

  Besides, she didn’t know what to say.

  Violet scampered to her for probably the hundredth time, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as she dropped the ball at her feet, panting hard and ready for more. As Cara chucked the ball across the wide expanse of green grass in this quiet patch of the park, a flurry of white and brown fur rushed past her, like a sports car racing down the highway. Violet had an accomplice in play. And oh holy hell, Cara’s dog recognition radar went off. Violet’s new canine playmate belonged to none other than the perpetrator of last night’s epic, toe-curling, star-seeing orgasm.

  She gulped. Womaning up might be happening sooner than she expected. Damn small town.

  “Come, Violet!” Cara called, even though her dog no longer needed the command to return to her. Even so, Cara rewarded her with praise when Violet arrived at her side.

  She steeled herself, taking a deep, fueling breath and turning around when she heard footsteps. Her heart beat faster just from the sight of him. Travis walked toward her, wearing jeans, a white T-shirt, and an unreadable expression—unreadable because he wore dark sunglasses—as he called out to his dog in an exasperated tone.

  “Henry, c’mon boy. Come on back.”

  In a corner of the park, Henry was preoccupied with chasing a squirrel that had hightailed it up a tree. Travis’s dog leapt in the air over and over again, looking a bit like a circus performer on his tiny little legs.

  “C’mon Henry,” Travis tried again, then muttered, “He’s been like this all morning. He’s not listening.”

  Cara glanced at him as she threw the ball to Violet, who shot off like a rocket to chase it. “You have to give him a reason to come back to you.”

  “Oh,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “Is that how it’s done?”

  She nodded, glad to be able to answer his question about dogs, a subject she was well-versed in, and much more comfortable discussing without getting hot and bothered and ready to jump him. “Yes. Give him something he wants.”

  “What do you think he wants?” Travis asked, cocking his head to the side as he gestured to his dog, who was fixated on reaching the squirrel high up on a branch.

  “A treat perhaps. Or some affection,” she answered.

  “So that’s your strategy?”

  “Yes.”

  His lips quirked up. “Did you use that last night with me?”

  She rolled her eyes and laughed when she realized she’d walked right into the flirty trap he’d been setting. “No.”

  He shot her a look that said he didn’t believe her. “I’m not sure I agree with you. You gave me a whole lot of reasons to come back.” He turned to the dog once more and tried again. “Henry, come.”

  The dog ignored him, yapping at the tree trunk.

  “Let’s get your dog.” She clapped her hands, then shouted, “Violet, come,” even though her dog was already on the return path. When her mutt arrived at her heels, parking herself in a proper sit, Cara called Henry’s name next, and the little dog glanced in her direction as she reached into a plastic bag full of small dog treats. She held one up and handed it to Violet as a reward.

  Food in the mouth—that’s what Henry saw happening, and it was enough to send him into motion.

  He took off running, barreling across the grass, and skidding at her feet. Cara fed him a treat then patted him on the head. “Good dog, Henry. You’re such a good little boy.”

  She turned to Travis. “See? We’re getting ahead of ourselves in the lesson department, but all you have to do is give him some positive reinforcement when he does what you want.”

  Travis nodded a few times, as if she made all the sense in the world. She loved making quick progress with dog and owner. “Positive reinforcement,” he repeated. “That makes sense.”

  He kneeled and petted his dog, telling him he was good. When he stood up, he tugged off his sunglasses and looked her square in the eyes. “But I’m confused on something else, so maybe you can explain your training methods with me. You see, I got a hell of a lot of positive reinforcement last night when you cried out my name and left bite marks on my shoulder from coming so hard. But then you took off.”

  Cara narrowed her eyes and parked her hands on her hips. “Perhaps that’s because I’m not a dog.”

  Chapter Four

  He gave her a look that said you’ve got to be kidding me. He couldn’t believe she thought that was what he meant.

  “Obviously,” he said, undeterred. “And I like dogs a hell of a lot. But I like you even more, and I loved touching you, so I can’t figure out, for the life of me, why you’d leave like that.”

  He didn’t break his gaze. He kept his eyes fixed on her, and even though he meant every bit of his compliment, he still wanted to know why she took off.

  “Really? You really can’t figure it out?” she said sharply.

  He shook his head. “No. Tell me.”

  “Travis, I heard that bet about getting me to kiss you,” she said, as she threw the ball for Violet and both dogs chased after it. “Dogs often learn fastest from other dogs, so Violet can help train Henry,” she said, returning briefly to her teacherly tone.

  He nodded but stayed firmly on topic. “I figured out that you overheard, thanks to that that nice walk-off line. Which, by the way, was pretty impressive as far as walk-off lines go, so I have to give you props for that.”

  She scoffed. “I’m not looking for props for delivering zingers.”

  He laughed briefly. “That’s not what I’m getting at. What I don’t understand is why you would leave when we were having a good time.”

  “If you wanted to know so badly, why didn’t you call me?”

  He nodded and held out his hand, acknowledging she had a valid point. Still, he had his reasons. “Because you made it pretty clear you weren’t going home with me, and I wanted to respect your wishes. I wanted to give you the space you asked for. See? I’m not such a bad guy.”

  “Travis,” she said, her tone softening. “I don’t think you’re a bad guy. That’s not what this is about.”

  “Then what is it about?”

  “Too many things,” she said with a heavy sigh, as Violet returned with the object of her affections—a slobbered-on green ball. As she bent down to pluck it from the ground, a dog biscuit spilled from her pocket. Henry pounced on it, like a hawk, gobbling it up.

  She shook her finger at him. “No,” she said in a firm voice, and he whimpered and backed away.

  “He’s a bit of a biscuit bandit,” Travis said.

  “Most of them are, especially when the biscuits have peanut butter in them. Virtually no dog ever, throughout history, has been able to resist peanut butter,” she said, and then returned to the matter at hand. “Anyway, to answer your question. First, it’s about the fact that just because you got me off in the hallway doesn’t mean I want to spend the night with you when I’m the object of a bet. I mean, did you honestly think that would make me want to stay?” she asked as she raised her arm to throw.

  He swallowed, and then scratched his chin. Honestly, he had thought that. Why on earth would he think anything else, given how she responded, writhing in his arms, clutching his shoulders, thrusting her hips into his hands? “Cara, the bet wasn’t a bad thing,” he said, because to him bets were good things. After paying his
way through college by playing professional poker, he’d turned himself into a poker expert, teaching Silicon Valley venture capitalists and San Francisco’s high rollers how to play better and win bigger by being smarter. It was far more lucrative to make a living that way than it was to gamble away your savings. Even so, he couldn’t resist the siren call of a bet, especially since it had been about her. “Look, Smith made it because he knows I still think you’re the hottest woman I’ve ever known. Ever since you came back last year, I can’t get you out of my head. Sometimes a man needs his friends to give him a kick in the ass and get him moving,” he said, choosing deliberate honesty with Cara. If she was pissed about a bet that made him seem less than forthright, the least he could do now was to serve up the full truth.

  Her mouth fell open as he spoke, and her arm was frozen in place. He took that as a sign to continue. “I meant everything I said to you last night. I have wanted you for so long, and I resist you every day when you come by Becker’s bar, or when I see you walking around town, or here at the park, and all Smith did was call me on it. And he called me on it in a way that he knew I would respond to. Besides, I thought you had a good time last night,” he said softly, as she relinquished her hold on the ball, both pooches careening after it.

  “You know I had a great time,” she said, and her voice was gentler now. The irritation seemed stripped from her tone. “But you guys set me up, so I wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine. To let you know not to toy with me. Maybe it was all fun and games, and boys being boys, and that’s fine on some level. But I’m not a woman who likes being toyed with. Especially because I am ridiculously attracted to you,” she said, meeting his gaze straight on.

  A wicked grin spread across his face. Pride suffused him. Some part of him knew that he was better off leaving her alone, given all the reasons why the two of them would never work out. But when a man hears those words from the woman he longs for, they have a way of slamming the door on the frontal lobe of his brain and giving the libido free rein. He stepped closer to her and lowered his voice. “Then let’s finish what we started.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut, as if the conversation pained her. When she opened them, she let out a long and frustrated breath then wrapped her fingers around his arm. Damn, the feel of her hand on his muscles turned him on. Every little touch from her was like kindling a fire.

  “Because it’s not that simple for me. On the one hand, I’m incredibly attracted to you, and I want to bang you six ways to Sunday,” she began and his eyes nearly popped out of his head as his dick rose to full attention. “But on the other hand, I know that nothing more than sex will ever happen between the two of us. There’s no point in pretending it would ever be anything more, because we both want different things in life. If I let you in again, it won’t be good for me.”

  She tossed the ball once more to the pair of dogs, and they jetted after it.

  “I could make it good for you,” he said, closing the space between them so he could smell her, all fresh and showery clean. She didn’t have on an ounce of makeup, and her hair was swept up in a loose ponytail. But she was as alluring to him now under the midday sun, as she was in the laser lights of the nightclub. “I can make sure absolutely everything is good for you.”

  She bit her lip and shook her head. “I want that. I want that so much. But the sooner I stop thinking about you, and daydreaming about the sex we’ve had, and imagining all the things you’d do to me, the better off I’ll be,” she said. His skin sizzled at first, then cooled off, doused by the cold water of “the better off I’ll be.” “And honestly, Travis, that’s the real reason I walked away last night. Sure, there was a part of me that was irritated, but I’m a big girl. I understand where the bet came from. But if I let myself just fall into bed with you again, it will be so much harder for me to ever have what I want in life. I want what my sisters have. Maybe that makes me sound like a ‘typical girl,’ but I’m okay with that, because they’re both incredibly happy with their families, and so are my parents. That’s all I’ve known, and all I want, and I promised myself I’d be in a position to truly have that by the time I’m thirty.” She glanced at her watch and tapped it, then shot him a small smile. “Clock’s ticking. So I think we really should just stick to the plan to work together with Henry once a week starting on Monday. If you’re uncomfortable with training a dog with me, I can arrange for one of the other trainers I work with to fill in for me. Would you like that?”

  He shook his head vehemently. The idea of that rankled him. “I only want you.”

  “Then I will see you in a few days, and we’ll work with your dog,” she said, brushing one palm against the other as she sealed up their conversation and shoved last night into a drawer she seemed to have no interest in reopening. She called Violet over, and Henry trotted alongside her. She petted Henry on the head, then said good-bye to both of them. As she walked away, her dark hair bouncing in that ponytail, her stride purposeful, he ran through a hundred compliments he could give her, one thousand ways he could touch her to try to convince her.

  But deep down he knew that wasn’t what she wanted.

  She wanted more than he could ever give, and he had to admit he admired the hell out of her for sticking to her guns. She had a roadmap, and she was dedicated to following it. He was the same way. After his father died in the line of duty when he was only ten, he watched his mother unravel for years, battling depression, struggling with loneliness, and spending all her days missing a ghost. Finally, she healed and met the man she remarried, but those lost years had left their mark on Travis. They were indelibly etched on his heart as a warning. They’d shown him the stark damage that love could do, and the devastation that commitment can wreak on a person when it’s stolen from under you.

  He never wanted to get close enough to someone to give her the power to crush his heart.

  Chapter Five

  “So that’s why I always loved that movie.”

  Cara furrowed her brow. She was about to ask, “What movie?” then clamped her lips shut when she realized she’d be revealing that she hadn’t heard a word Joe had said for the last few minutes. Instead, she stabbed her fork enthusiastically at a piece of romaine in her Caesar salad and smiled. “Absolutely. I feel the same.”

  He crinkled his nose. “Really? I don’t meet a lot of women who love Full Metal Jacket, especially that scene with the drill sergeant.”

  Oh shoot. Was that what he’d been waxing on about? Well, thank heavens she’d tuned it out because he was spot on. There was no love lost between Cara and violent scenes in films. They weren’t her cup of tea at all. Give her a comedy with some slapstick humor, or a good old-fashioned spy movie any day. However, she couldn’t let on that she had been drifting off, her damn thoughts stuck like an old record on repeat, playing Ever since you came back last year, I can’t get you out of my head.

  “No, it’s great. Love that movie,” she said, widening her eyes and feigning excitement as she speared a crouton.

  “We should go see it, then. There’s a showing at a theater in San Francisco in a few weeks. Part of a Kubrik retrospective,” Joe said as he held up his fork to dive into his steak. A sandy blond, with green eyes and a trim build, Joe was as nice and as sweet as they came. So Cara slapped on her blinders and gave her full attention to the man across the table from her at the bistro in Sonoma, where they were having dinner courtesy of Kaitlyn’s matchmaking.

  “Tell me more about the furniture you build, Joe. Are you like Magic Mike?” she asked, as she attempted to reclaim the conversation from the flotsam and jetsam of her driftwood brain.

  “You mean am I a stripper?” he asked, shooting her a quizzical look.

  “Magic Mike was stripping to try to support his dream to make custom furniture,” she explained.

  He winked. “Gotcha. So did you want to see me strip?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Because I’m happy to call for the check if you do.”

  Her cheeks flushed red. S
he quickly tried to redirect their chatter again. “That’s okay. I’m pretty hungry,” she said, digging her fork into her salad for another bite, as if to prove her famished point.

  “Do you want to work up an appetite first, before I strip?”

  She set down her fork and shot him a sharp glare. Enough was enough. “I was only teasing.”

  “I know,” he said softly, a note of contrition in his tone. “I’m sorry. So was I. I would never think you’d want a striptease on a first date. Kaitlyn said you had a great sense of humor so I was playing along, and I pushed it too far.”

  Her shoulders sank. Now she was the heel. She waved a hand as if she could rid them both of the awkward detour. “Don’t apologize. I started a lame joke. Anyway, I’m glad Kaitlyn connected us. I’m having a nice time chatting with you.”

  She flashed a smile. Fake it ’til you make it, she told herself. Joe was great. Truly great. He deserved her A game.

  “Me, too. You’re fun and pretty and I’m enjoying getting to know you,” he said, as he clasped his hand over hers on the table. It felt…nice. Warm. Pleasant.

  Once they got past the first-date jitters, Joe really did have a good sense of humor. She had to give him some points for going along with her goofy comments. He was brimming with potential. She simply had to zero in on the present, not on the memories of the other night that still spun wildly in the front of her mind, zipping through her bloodstream on a hot trail of desire.